greece and spain were the worst hit. >> eventually, it was the european central bank's controversial bond-buying program that manage to come down the markets -- calm down the markets. >> germany's finance minister says he thinks the worst is behind us. is he right? >> the wildfires in 2012 were the worst spain had experienced in years, but it was not the only disaster the country had to deal with. the financial sector was also in flames. right from the beginning of the year, it was clear that the eurozone had a tough time ahead. credit rating agencies handed out significant downgrades to spain and portugal in particular. europe's firefighting coalition of finance ministers hoped a fiscal pact with tight budgetary controls and national debt breaks would need future crises in the bud, but some economists were more realistic. >> the fiscal pact was basically superfluous. we already knew that all the countries were trying to cut back. weather or not they continue making cuts in 2018, which is what the fiscal pact promise, is of little interest to the markets. >> agrees also posed a chall